Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me

by Whoopi Goldberg

She taught me to make choices on my own that nobody else could make for me. Then I had to live with however those choices made me feel. I had to stand up. I couldn’t pretend I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t have to fear punishment from God. I only had to think about whether I could live with myself and my choices.